Formula 1

Verstappen repels charging Sainz to win Canadian GP

by Matt Beer
7 min read

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Max Verstappen narrowly denied Carlos Sainz a first Formula 1 win victory in a tense finish to the Canadian Grand Prix.

Verstappen’s sixth win from nine races in the 2022 F1 season so far was another big championship boost as his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez retired early and Charles Leclerc was fifth from the back row of the grid following his engine penalties.

With Sainz rapidly clearing front row starter Fernando Alonso’s Alpine in the hot and dry race, the event became a slow-burning duel between Verstappen and Sainz on slightly different strategies.

Verstappen took advantage of a virtual safety car for team-mate Perez parking from 10th on lap nine with a suspected gearbox failure to a very early pitstop, with Sainz staying out another 11 laps.

That didn’t look like it would ultimately make much difference, but Sainz was able to make his second pitstop during a late safety car caused by Yuki Tsunoda crashing his AlphaTauri on his way out of the pits.

At the restart, Sainz was therefore right on Verstappen’s tail with six-lap-fresher tyres. The Red Bull never managed to drop the Ferrari out of DRS range over the remaining 15 laps, but Sainz never quite managed to get close enough to try a proper move either.

Verstappen’s win means he’s now 49 points clear of Leclerc in the championship, with Perez still between them, three ahead of Leclerc.

Lewis Hamilton returned to the podium to lead a Mercedes 3-4 ahead of George Russell in one of the team’s stronger races of 2022 so far.

Leclerc made it through to sixth from 19th in his first stint but was struggling with tyre wear late in it and then had a slow pitstop that dropped him back into heavy traffic.

Late moves on the two Alpines allowed him to salvage fifth ahead of Esteban Ocon and Alonso. A 28-lap-long first stint proved to be the wrong strategy for Alonso, with the combination of poor pace on old tyres late in that run and rivals having pitted under VSCs tumbling him down the order.

The two Alpines only just came home ahead of the Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bottas.

Lance Stroll came from 17th on the grid to take ninth place in his home race for Aston Martin – including a late move on 2022’s sole rookie Zhou Guanyu who was still able to return to the points for the first time since the season-opener in 10th place.

Both McLarens finished outside the points – Daniel Ricciardo losing ground in the final laps to end up 11th and Lando Norris down in 15th thanks to a confused pitstop in which the wrong tyre was briefly fitted to his car.

Haas’s brilliant third-row qualifying effort didn’t bring it any points. Kevin Magnussen was ordered by race control to pit early to change a front wing that had sustained damage in a first-lap brush with Hamilton. He finished 17th and last. Team-mate Mick Schumacher retired early with a mechanical problem.

Race Results

Pos Name Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Max Verstappen Red Bull 70 53 1h36m21.757s 1m15.839s 2 25
2 Carlos Sainz Ferrari 70 17 +0.993s 1m15.749s 2 19
3 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 70 0 +7.006s 1m16.167s 2 15
4 George Russell Mercedes 70 0 +12.313s 1m16.418s 2 12
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 70 0 +15.168s 1m15.901s 1 10
6 Esteban Ocon Alpine-Renault 70 0 +23.89s 1m17.11s 2 8
7 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 70 0 +25.247s 1m16.927s 1 6
8 Guanyu Zhou Alfa Romeo-Ferrari 70 0 +26.952s 1m16.578s 2 4
9 Fernando Alonso Alpine-Renault 70 0 +29.945s 1m17.01s 2 2
10 Lance Stroll Aston Martin-Mercedes 70 0 +38.222s 1m17.421s 1 1
11 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren-Mercedes 70 0 +43.047s 1m17.932s 2 0
12 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin-Mercedes 70 0 +44.245s 1m17.956s 2 0
13 Alex Albon Williams-Mercedes 70 0 +44.893s 1m17.951s 2 0
14 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri-Red Bull 70 0 +45.183s 1m17.81s 2 0
15 Lando Norris McLaren-Mercedes 70 0 +52.145s 1m17.495s 2 0
16 Nicholas Latifi Williams-Mercedes 70 0 +59.978s 1m18.54s 2 0
17 Kevin Magnussen Haas-Ferrari 70 0 +1m08.18s 1m18.046s 1 0
Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri-Red Bull 47 0 DNF 1m18.309s 2 0
Mick Schumacher Haas-Ferrari 18 0 DNF 1m18.967s 0 0
Sergio Pérez Red Bull 7 0 DNF 1m18.844s 0 0
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